LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf .t£{e.3 ' 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



J 



CHRISTIANITY 

THE KEY TO THE CHARACTER AND CAREER OF 

WASHINGTON. 

A Discourse Delivered before the Ladies of the Mt. Vernon Association of 

the Union, at Pohick Church, Truro Parish, Fairfax County, 

Virgi)tia, on the Thirtieth Day of Mav, iS86. 

BY 

Historiographer of the Diocese of Virginia. 



Svo, Beautifully p7H7ited in pica type. 2^ cts. per copy. 



Bishop Perry of Iowa, Historiographer of the American 
Church, says, " T have read the admirable and convincing 
Monograph with the deepest interest, and rejoice that it 
has been done so thoroughly and so well." 

B.J. Lossing (the Historian) says, "I have read and 
reread it with the greatest interest and satisfaction. After 
a long study of the character of Washington my full con- 
viction is expressed by Dr. Slaughter in the words ' The 
bedrock on which it rests is Faith.' The testimony of eye- 
witnesses forms a chain of evidence that he was a com- 
municant that would be received as competent in any 
Court of Justice. I feel a perfect assurance of it." 

Rev. Dr. BoUes of Cleveland, Ohio, says, " The facts 
of this discourse might be printed in an illustrated book 
which would make it the most valuable book of the kind. 
As it is, I would, if I could, put it in every family in the 
United States." 

Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., of Boston, says, " It is a 
very interesting contribution to our knowledge of Wash- 
ington's character and life." 



A. H. Hoyt, A.M. of the N. E. Historical Societ3^ 
says, " The first edition of the beautiful discourse I read 
and reread. Again, when worn out with a day's hard 
work, I took up the fourth edition and read every word of 
its glowing pages. I think it will be a historic work and a 
classic." 

Bishop Quintard of Tennessee said, '' It portrayed the 
symmetrical character of Washington in a most charming 
style. The author deserves well of his country for his his- 
torical research and real appreciation of the grand charac- 
ter he has drawn." 

Rev. James Grammer, D.D. : " I have read with great 
satisfaction the valuable contribution to American history." 

A writer in the " Standard of the Cross" said, *' The 
subject is treated exhaustively, and by cumulative proof it 
is demonstrated that he was not only a working vestryman 
but a devout communicant. In view of these authentics, 
one wonders that infidelity should dare to use his name." 

Mr. Brook of the Va. Historical Society, says, "This 
discourse is not only charming for its literary beauty, but 
precious for its facts and its just analysis of the great 
man to whom his country and all humanity owe so much." 

Dr. Welling, President of Columbian University, Wash- 
ington, D. C. : "This discourse confirms by proof, the im- 
pression I have always had that Washington was not only 
a Christian in a moral sense but also a communicant." 

Rev. Dr. Norton of Alexandria, said, " It is the best 
thing that has been done on the subject." 

Col. Tuston of Va., says, " I have read it with profouiid 
delight. It should be filed among the sacred archives of 
every family in Va., and all English-speaking people. It 
dissipates the doubts raised by covert insinuators whose 
authors can never face the light again." 

Many like opinions of eminent men might be added, 
but these will suffice. 

THOMAS WMITTAKER, Pubilsiier, 

2 & 3 Bible House, New York. 



Christianity the Key 



Character a7id Career of Washington, 



A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BEFORE THE LADIES 
OF THE 

MT. VERNON ASSOCIATION OF THE UNION, 

AT POHICK CHURCH, 
TRURO PARISH, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 

ON THE 
THIRTIETH DAY OF MAY, 1886, 

^ PHILIP SLAUGHTER, D.D!, 

HISTORIOGRAPHER OF THE DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA. 



"- ^^- > \ 



NEW YORK : 
THOMAS WHITTAKER, 2 & 3 BIBLE HOUSE. 



A-^ 



c 



^ .11 
,543 



DEDICATION 



To the Regent and Vice-Regents of the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Asso- 
ciation of the Union : 

To rescue from ruin, and to restore to their primitive state, 
old pictures, churches and other monuments of historic interest, 
is regarded as a pious office. Men of fortune have deemed it an 
honor to consecrate their wealth, and men of genius their gifts, 
to such generous uses. It was reserved for the women of Amer- 
ica to conceive and realize the idea of restoring the tomb and 
home of the Father of his Country, as nearly as may be, to the 
state in which it was, when his eyes last looked upon it ; and of 
keeping it in perpetual repair, as a shrine to which, not only his 
own children, but pilgrims from all lands might come with 
votive offerings, and rekindle the fading fires of patriotism. A 
Carolina vestal fanned the first spark into flame at which her 
sisters of other States lighted torches which passed from hand to 
hand until the whole horizon was illuminated. As sweet-hearts, 
wives, and mothers, women rule the world, and nothing could 
be more fitting than that the Regents of the heart should be 
Regents of the Home of him who was " First in the hearts of 
his countrymen," and who owed so much to the mother who 
gave him the chart and pointed him to the star by which to 
steer his course in life, and to the wife who beautified and blest 
his home in manhood, and cheered his chamber of death with 
her presence, her Bible, and her prayers. 

I thank you for the kind appreciation which prompted you to 
ask for a copy of this Discourse for publication, and, in granting 
your request, suffer me to say, that I hope that the sacred trust 
of the care of Mt. Vernon confided to you, and which you will 
leave as a legacy to be transmitted from heart to heart in the 
coming generations, will be a more lasting tenure than any entail 
which could be devised by the learning of the lawyers. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

P. Slaughter. 



POHICK CHUECH. 



Our mother church, thou'rt growing old, 
A hundred years have round thee rolled; 
Thy children greet thee, mother dear. 
On this, thy twice-told golden year. 

Thou heard'st the Independence gun, 
Thou'st seen the form of Washington, 
These aisles have echoed to his tread, 
Thou'st seen him bow his lordly head 
And kneeling on his bended knee 
Worship the Holy Trinity. 
Thou hast heard his manly voice repeat 
Our Creed, our Psalms, our Anthems sweet. 
On which as if on eagle's wings. 
The soul exulting soars and sings. 



I 



DISCOURSE. 



Daniel Webster said : 

" America furnished the character of "Washington, and if she had done 
nothing more, she would deserve the respect of mankind." 

James Russell Lowell said : 

" Virginia gave us this imperial man — 

This unblemished gentleman : — 

What can we give her back but love and praise ? " 

I trust that I shall not be deemed presumptuous if 
I add : the Colonial Church gav^e Washington to Vir- 
ginia, to America, and to the world ; and if she had 
done nothing else she would deserve well of the 
country and of mankind. He was born in her bosom, 
baptized at her altar, trained in her catechism, wor- 
shipped in her courts, and was buried with her 
offices. She signed him with the sign of the cross, in 
token that he should not be ashamed of the faith of 
Christ crucified, but manfully fight under His banner 
against sin, the world, and the devil, and continue 
Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. 
By this sign he conquered — not only the indepen- 
dence of his country — but he conquered himself, thus 
realizing the proverb of Solomon, " He who ruleth his 
own spirit, is better than he who taketh a city." 
Such a man's character is worthy of study. The 
theme is a trite one, in the sense of being well-worn. 
All the Muses have tried their hands upon it. The 



historian and the orator have represented him on their 
pictured pages ; artists have painted his portrait in 
every form and phase ; sculptors have carved his 
image in marble and cast it in bronze, and poets have 
sung arrtia virumque in all their metres. Many per- 
sons will think that there is nothing more to be said. 
The whole field has been reaped, every bough beaten, 
and not a sheaf nor an olive is left for the poor who 
come after the great reapers. This would be true if 
I proposed to tread in the beaten track. But it is not 
my intention to recount Washington's weary wander- 
ings in the wilderness, nor to rehearse the dramas of 
the French War and the American Revolution, "the 
battles, sieges, fortunes that he passed, and his hair- 
breadth 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach." It is 
enough to say, in the words of Chief Justice Marshall, 
that he did more than any other man, and as much as 
any one man could do, to achieve our independence. 
Nor shall I attempt to expound the Constitution, over 
whose making he presided as master-workman — a 
Constitution so contrived as to crown the pillars of 
the States like a great dome, binding them in a com- 
pact union, and yet, according to the true theory of 
it, resting upon them so gracefully and so lightly that, 
as Michael Angelo ^aid of the dome of St. Peter's, it 
seems to " hang in the air." According to Bancroft, 
"AVithout him the Union would never have been 
formed," and the grand discovery of '89, a machine of 
self-government, would never have been put in mo- 



tion. Nor will I speak of his election to the Presi- 
dency, except to say that he did not climb into the 
presidential chair by crooked ways ; nor did he, like 
a supple serpent, insinuate himself into it from below ; 
but he descended into it from above, like an eagle to 
his eyrie, as if sent from Heaven in answer to the 
unanimous prayers of the people. Rather will I de- 
scribe how gladly and how gracefully he came down 
from the mount, turning his sword into a plough- 
share, and returning to the shade of his old oaks ; not 
blinded by gifts, not retiring on a pension, for Wash- 
ington had thanks and nought beside, save the " all- 
cloudless glory to free his country." Such a character 
is worthy of thoughtful study. No amount of treat- 
ment can exhaust its interest. 

It is a quality of greatness to grow upon us. This 
is true in nature, in art, and in history. The Falls of 
Niagara, the Apollo Belvedere, the Pantheon, Shake- 
speare, are inexhaustible. 

No one ever sounded the deep sea of Shakespeare 
without finding precious pearls of thought and expres- 
sion, nor studied any great work of nature or of art 
without discovering new beauties. As some birds 
are fabled to hatch their eggs by gazing continuously 
at them, so, at the continued contemplation of great 
works and great men, new beauties are ever breaking 
upon the view, like birds from the shell. 

Washington belongs to this category of greatness. 
He has been elected to it by universal suffrage, uhique 



et ah omnibus. That all Americans should have 
given their votes for him is not surprising. When he 
died, at the call of President Adams, all the people of 
the United States went into mourning. The voice of 
lamentation was heard in the land like that in Israel 
when their great leader and law-giver was gatKered 
to his fathers. From New England to Charleston, 
halls of legislation, academies of science, churches and 
theatres, resounded with funeral sermons, orations, 
dirges and dead marches. Civic, Military, Masonic, 
and other associations marched in processions, and 
white-robed vestal virgins chanted elegies and strewed 
flowers upon memorials draped in mourning. Statues 
and monuments were decreed, and to the latter, not 
only the old thirteen States, but the younger sisters 
who came later into the constellation, brought their 
blocks of marble or granite to swell their pile, as the 
twelve tribes of Israel brought each its stone to com- 
memorate the miracle of the passage of the ark over 
Jordan. This was all natural. These were the voices 
of children honoring their father. For it has been 
said with Attic aptness —Providence denied Washing- 
ton children of his own that he might be the Father 
of his Country. But the marvel is, that these voices 
were echoed from over all the oceans. The first voice 
was that of the First Napoleon, saying in an order to 
the army, on the 11th of February, 1800, "Washing- 
ton is no more. This great man fought for liberty. 
His memory will be forever dear to the friends of 



freedom in two worlds. Let all the flags of France 
be hung in black." Paris met en masse (Feb. 20tli) in 
the Temple of Mars. Fontanes, the orator, said 
"From every part of America the cry of grief is 
heard. It belongs to France to echo back the mourn 
ful sound." He compared the modesty of Washing 
ton to that of Turenne, his valor to that of Conde 
and his philosophy to that of Catinat. At Amster 
dam, 20th of March, Kinker, the advocate, pro 
nounced the eulogium in the hall Felix de Meritis. 
adorned with a monument surmounted with a bust of 
Washington crowned with laurel, the Genius of Hu- 
manity in tears, and the inscriptiou, "We honor the 
great man whom humanity deplores." 

From the Prime Minister, Count Herzburg, of Ber- 
lin, came the tribute, " In disinterested patriotism, in 
unshaken courage and simplicity of manners, Wash- 
ington surpasses the most celebrated men in an- 
tiquity." Later, Bremen and Brazil, and Switzerland 
and Turkey, and Japan and China, and Siam, from 
India beyond the Ganges, have each contributed a 
memorial stone to the monument. The inscription 
on the Chinese block is curious and amusing. The 
substance of it is : " In devising plans Washington 
was more decided than Ching Shing or Woo Kwang ; 
in winning a country he was braver than Tsau Tsau 
or Ling Pi. Wielding his four-footed falchion, he ex- 
tended the frontiers and refused to accept the Royal 
Dignity. The sentiments of the Three Dynasties 



10 

have reappeared in him. Can any man of ancient or 
modern times fail to pronounce Washington peer- 
less ? " 

Greece sent a precious gem from that envy and 
wonder of the world, the Temple of Minerva on the 
Acropolis, with the inscription : " The land of Solon, 
Themistocles, and Pericles, the Mother of Ancient 
Liberty, sends this antique stone, a testimony of honor 
and admiration, from the Parthenon." And now, the 
missionaries tell us that the King of Siam has called 
his son George Washington. 

But the wonder grows when we remember that the 
great men of Great Britain, from whose crown Wash- 
ington wrested its most precious jewel, should have 
joined in the chorus of praise. From want of time, I 
can only cite two of these. Phillips, the Irish orator, 
said : " Scipio was continent, Csesar was merciful, 
Hannibal was patient ; but it was reserved for Wash- 
ington to blend in one glow of associated beauty the 
pride of eveiy model and the perfection of every mas- 
ter." But the climax was reached by the renowned 
Lord Brougham, in his opinion that Washington "was 
the greatest man of this, or of any, age. The venera- 
tion in which his name is held, will be a test of the 
progress the human race has made." It was a fitting 
consummation of this concord of voices, all concerted 
in one grand harmony, when lately the President, the 
Congress, the army and nav}^ of the United States, 
the Monument Society, the clergy, the Masons, and 



11 

thousands of citizens met at the dedication of the 
Monument to shout grace, grace, unto the capstone 
with which it had just been crowned. And in the 
Capitol, the golden-mouthed sage of Massachusetts, 
and the silver-tongued orator of Virginia, in strains of 
surpassing eloquence, gave utterance to thoughts and 
emotions which were beating in the hearts of fifty 
millions of people. It was the diapase of all the notes 
of praise which had been rolling all round the world, 
like the waves of the ocean which beats on every 
shore and into whose bosom all the rivers of earth 
pour their streams, perpetually renewing its youth. 

Was I not warranted in saying that Washington 
had been elected by universal suffrage as what the 
Chinese fondly call their Empei*or, "The one man ? " 

When it was determined to run up the Washington 
Monument to a height overtopping all other monu- 
ments, as Washington surpasses other men, it became 
necessary to deepen and widen the foundation to en- 
able it to bear the superadded weight. So it seems 
to me that we must seek a broader and firmer founda- 
tion for his colossal character than the shifting sands 
of earth. After the best study of which I am capable, 
I am convinced that the bedrock upon which it rests 
is Faith. Not faith like that of Timoleon in the fickle 
Goddess, Fortune, nor like that of Mohammed in a 
fixed fate, nor like that of Napoleon in his star. Not 
faith like that of some modern scientists in an unrea- 
soning, unmoral force at the back of, or inhering in, 



12 

physical phenomena, and evolving out of them, by 
mechanical motion and chemical affinities, all moral 
phenomena — but faith in a personal God who created 
the heavens and the earth, and who made man after 
His own image, who upholds all things by the word 
of His power, watches over them with His parental 
providence, and blesses them with His super-abound- 
ing bounty. But he was not a mere natural religion- 
ist, believing that God had only written His name and 
attributes in an alphabet of stars upon the blue pages 
of heaven, and in picturesque illustrations upon the 
green pages of earth, and in mysterious characters 
upon the table of the human heart. He believed that 
God no longer dwelt in a light inaccessible which no 
man can approach unto and survive the vision, but 
that He had manifested Himself in the person of Jesus 
Christ, and that, instead of being blinded and blasted 
by the vision, we can look with delight upon the light 
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ. In fine, he believed in the Bible and 
in the Apostles' Creed as the best summary of the 
faith, and in the Catechism as one of the best exposi- 
tions of those duties to God and to our neighbor, 
which he exemplified in his daily life. All which 
propositions will be proved and illustrated in the 
progress of this discourse. 

It will be interesting to trace Washington's Christian 
character to its first germination and to observe the in- 
fluence of its surroundings upon its development. It 



13 

is a proved fact of science, and in accord with the ex- 
perience of practical men, that all living things, 
whether plants or animals, inherit certain qualities or 
tendencies which incline them one way or another. 
Hence, in sowing a garden or field, and in planting 
an orchard or vineyard, care is taken to have good 
seed or plants, and in rearing animals regard is had 
to the stock from which they spring. This is true of 
the human race as of the lower animals and plants, 
with this difference — that in man the will becomes 
an efficient factor in shaping tendencies ; hence, in the 
study of a man it is not impertinent to look at his 
lineage. 

Washington was of the cavalier stock, renowned in 
English story. But limiting our view to the paternal 
root of the family in Virginia, we find John Washing- 
ton a planter, a burgess, and commander of the county 
of Westmoreland in 1658, and giving his name to the 
parish in which he lived, the first instance of the ap- 
propriation of the name to any place in America. 

But, what is more to our purpose, we have a sum- 
mary of his Christian creed in his own words, viz.: 
" Being heartily sorry for my past sins, and earnestly 
desiring forgiveness of the same from Almighty God 
through the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour and 
Redeemer, I trust to have full forgiveness of all my 
sins and be assuredly saved, and at the general resur- 
rection my soul and body shall rise with joy." 

Lawrence, son of this John and his wife, Anne 



14 

Pope, maiTied Mildred, daughter of Augustine War- 
ner, of Gloucester ; hence the names Mildred, Augus- 
tine, and Warner, so common in the family to this day. 
Augustine, son of Lawrence Washington and Mildred 
Warner (born 1694), married (March 6th, 1730) for his 
second wife, Mary Ball, of Lancaster. Around White 
Chapel church, in St. Mary's parish, Lancaster, there 
are many tombstones, most of which are inscribed 
with the name Ball, and epitaphs attesting, in the 
words of one of them, that they " died in steadfast 
faith in Christ, and in the hope of a joyful resurrec- 
tion." They were the descendants of William Ball, 
the first of the family in Virginia. One of the family, 
as. early as 1729, petitioned the General Assembly 
that the county courts should " provide for the instruc- 
tion of a certain number of young gentlemen, Virgin- 
ians born, in Divinity." Seven of them were vestry- 
men of the parish, and it is not unworthy of note that 
the motto on the " family arms " was Codumque tueri. 
Such was the maternal stock from which our Wash- 
ington sprang. In the family Bible (still extant) is 
the following entry : 

" George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary, 
his wife, was born ye 11th* day of February, 1731-2, 
about 10 in the morning, and was baptized the 3d of 
April following, Mr. Beverly Whiting and Capt. 
Christopher Brooks, Godfathers, and Mrs. Mildred 
Gregory, Godmother." 

It was the good fortune of Washington to have in 

* Old reckoning. 



15 

his father a man of sense, who took special pains, 
both by precept and example, to train his son in 
moral habits and to teach him religions principles. 
Even if we do not accept literally what have been 
called (without evidence) the myths of Mason Weems, 
yet some of them are supported by other testimony, 
as the diagram on which seed was sown, which, when 
coming up, spelled in green letters " George Washing- 
ton," to teach him that Providence, and not chance, 
ruled in nature. 

It was his misfortune to lose his father when the 
son was but ten years of age ; but that Providence 
which he ever devoutly acknowledged gave him in 
his elder brother, Lawrence, a wise counsellor. Law- 
rence inherited Mt. Vernon, which he called after the 
admiral of that name, with whom he served in the 
expedition against Carthagena. Lawrence was edu- 
cated at Oxford, but, having a military turn, he en- 
tered the army. George often visited him at Mt. 
Vernon, and when his health failed accompanied him 
to the West Lidies. Lawrence often rehearsed for 
George the story of his life in arms, and the latter 
greedily devoured his discourse. It was thus that his 
military genius was awakened. He practiced feats of 
arms with the old soldiers whom Lawrence attracted 
around him, developing that robust manhood and skill 
in fence which was an unconscious preparation for the 
great part he was to play in the dramas of the French 
War and the American Revolution. 



16 

But it was the peculiar felicity of Washington to 
have a devout Christian mother, the greatest blessing 
God gives to man. Some one has said that behind 
every great man is a great woman, his mother. And 
that sagacious observer, the First Napoleon, said, " the 
future of a child is the work of his mother." The 
mother presides, as the Greeks fabled of the Naiads, 
over the spring of life. She is indeed the spring 
whence the stream flows, and has the power of giving 
it a direction which will issue in Paradise or in perdi- 
tion. On the summits of the Alleghany mountains 
are springs whose streams, by the intervention of the 
smallest object, may be made to flow into the Atlantic 
Ocean or into the Gulf of Mexico. It is a symbol of 
the springs over which the mother presides. 

The mother of Washington was an old-fashioned 
Virginia matron, with strong common sense, great ad- 
ministrative talent, fearing God and having no other 
fear, a firm believer in the righteousness of the rod ; 
and yet those cjualities were blended with a kindness 
whose overflow was only restrained by a sense of 
duty, so that Lawrence Washington, of Choptank, a 
cousin and schoolmate of George, said that he did not 
know whether he was more impressed with awe by 
her dignity or with sensibility to her softer qualities. 

It was to this Christian woman, who, by precept 
and example, commanded her children and her house- 
hold after her to keep the ways of the Lord, that Di- 
vine Providence committed the early training of a 



17 

man of whom Gladstone has lately said : " He is the 
purest figure in history." And she laid the founda- 
tions of his character with stones from the brook 
which "flowed fast by the oracles of God." Wake- 
field, the family seat, was called after a town and 
parish in England made famous by Goldsmith's Vicar, 
and also by a school at which several of the Boilings 
and Beverleys and other Virginians were educated. 
Our Virginian Wakefield is between Bridge's and 
Pope's creeks, which last gave the name to Pope's 
Creek Church, in which the family worshipped and 
Washington M^as baptized. Even the sexton of the 
church had something to do with his education, he 
having been the teacher in an old field school in 
whrch our hero learned the rudiments of grammar and 
arithmetic. 

One of his schoolmates, Lewis Willis, the son of 
Mrs. Gregory, Washington's godmother, by her third 
husband, tells a characteristic story of him. He says 
that while the other lads were playing bandy or ball 
George was generally behind the door ciphering. His 
ciphering-book (so called) is now at Mt. Vernon. 

The Bible and the Prayer-book were text-books in 
those primitive times. I remember in my childhood 
to have heard a very old gentleman, who was a con- 
temporary of Washington, say that in the last century 
proficiency in the Bible was a test of scholarship; 
that a man who had only read half the Bible was only 
half educated; but that Washington was well edu- 



18 

cated, lie having read and studied both the Old and 
the New Testaments. 

It was while under the influence of his mother and 
pastor at Pope's Creek Church, and afterwards at the 
Washington farm, opposite Fredericksburg, that he 
formed those habits of daily reading the Bible, of 
habitual attendance at public worship, of keeping 
holy the Sabbath day, which characterized his whole 
life, as is attested by his wife, by Mr. and Miss Custis, 
inmates of his house, and by his brother officers in 
the army. It was then, too, that he was indoctrinated 
in those duties towards his neighbor so clearly set 
forth in the Catechism — such as honoring his father 
and mother; obeying the civil authority; bearing no 
malice in his heart ; hurting no one by word or deed ; 
being true and just in all his dealings ; keeping his 
hands from picking and stealing ; his tongue from evil 
speaking, lying and slandering ; his body in temper- 
ance, soberness, and chastity ; not coveting other 
men's goods ; learning and laboring truly to get his 
own living, and to do his duty in that state of life 
unto which it should please God to call him. 

One of the earliest illustrations we have of the im- 
press made upon his mind by these teachings, is in 
some rules of conduct drawn up by him, and still ex- 
tant in his own handwriting. Here are three of them : 
" When you speak of God or of His attributes, let it 
be seriously and with revei'ence." " Labour to keep 
alive in the heart that spark of celestial fire called 



19 

Conscience." " Honour and obey your parents, what- 
ever may be their condition." This last rule was 
put to a severe test when, with the ship in view and 
his baggage aboard, he sacrificed, at his mother's com- 
mand, his passionate wish to enter the navy as a mid- 
shipman. This is a signal instance of the consequences 
which sometimes flow from a single act of obedience. 
Had he disobeyed his mother and gone to sea, human- 
ly speaking, the course of history might have been 
reversed, and this colossal America of ours, with her 
head whitened by the snows of Canada and her feet 
in the land of flowers, stretching her right hand to 
the Atlantic and her left hand to the Pacific to wel- 
come to her bountiful bosom the refugees from all 
climes, might never have been set free. 

Among the influences which are powerful factors in 
the development of minds and morals, are books ; and 
we long to know more of the contents of the family 
library. Besides the Bible and the Prayer-book, we 
know that he had, and read with his mother, " Dis- 
courses upon the Common Prayer," and Sir Matthew 
Hale's "Contemplations — Moral and Divine;" the 
latter of which is still preserved at Mt. Vernon, and 
bears the marks of diligent reading. "A precious 
document," says Ii'ving. ''Let those who wish to 
know the moral foundation of his character, consult 
its pages. Its admirable maxims sank deep into the 
mind of George, and were exemplified in his conduct 
through life." 



20 

Having imbibed from Hobby, the sexton and head 
of the " old field " school, the contents of his cranium, 
and spent some time with his brother at Mt. Vernon, 
he went back to Wakefield, then owned by his brother 
Augustine, where he attended a school of a higher 
grade under Mr. Williams, and in two years perfected 
himself in the art of surveying. 

Returning to Mt. Vernon, he found himself in a 
social circle of high-bred men and accomplished 
women. Not far from Mt. Vernon was Gunston, the 
seat of the Masons, a family which has contributed so 
many eminent men to the councils of the country, and 
among them, the great author of the " Bill of Rights." 
Nearer still was Belvoir, the seat of the Hon. William 
Fairfax, a soldier and a man of letters, whose daughter 
was the wife of Lawrence Washington, and whose son 
G. William had married a daughter of Miles Gary, of 
Hampton. Here, too, he met Thomas Lord Fairfax, 
the proprietor of the princely plantation, " The North- 
ern Neck," including all the land between the Rappa- 
hannock and Potomac Rivers, from their mouths to 
their head-springs in the mountains, amounting to five 
millions of acres. Lord Faii'fax was an old soldier, 
and a scholar who had contributed some papers to 
the elegant pages of the " Spectator." 

By these associations Washington's views wei'e en- 
larged, and his manners and tastes refined. Lord 
Fairfax, a man nearly sixty, took a fancy to the youth 
of 16 years of age, and induced him to accompany 



H 



21 

him to his rustic " Grreenway Court " in the valley of 
Virginia. From this centre they explored his vast 
domain in the wilderness, and Washington, for a 
doubloon a day became a surveyor of the trackless 
wilds, recording in his diary his arduous and romantic 
adventures. At Greenway Court, he tells us, he 
studied the history of England, and regaled himself 
with the papers of the Spectator, and in chasing the 
wild deer to the music of his Lordship's hounds. 
This was in 1748. In the records of the county of 
Culpeper may be seen to this day the following entry : 
July 20th, 1749 — George Washington, gentleman, pro- 
duced a commission from the president of William 
and Mary College, appointing him surveyor of this 
county, which was received; and thereupon "took 
the usual oaths to his majesty's person and govern- 
ment, and took and subscribed the abjuration oath 
and test, and then took the oath of surveyor, accord- 
ing to law." I have now a plat of land surveyed by 
him. 

In 1751 he accompanied his brother, Lawrence, 
who was in consumption, to Barbadoes. Here he 
caught the small-pox, which left its impress upon his 
face for life. Lawrence returned home and died the 
26th day of July, 1752, aged 34. He had been edu- 
cated in England, and was an elegant and cultured 
gentleman, adjutant general and member of the House 
of Burgesses. He was the first advocate of religious 
liberty in Virginia, saying as early as 1749: "It has 



22 

always been, and I hope ever will be, my opinion, that 
restraints on conscience are cruel in I'egard to those 
on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the 
country imposing them." Although but 20 years old, 
George was left executor of his brother's will, and 
after the death of his wife and daughter, inherited his 
estate, including Mt. Vernon. And now began that 
active career in the field and in council, which lasted 
almost to the day of his death. His first commission 
was an Embassy to the French and Indians in the 
North West, in which he incuri-ed many perils by 
land and by water in the wilderness, and from the 
heathen. At 22 years of age, he was first lieutenant 
colonel and then commander of the Virginia forces. 
His friend, AVilliam Fairfax, wrote to him, " I will not 
doubt your having public prayer in camp, especially 
when the Indians are present." Washington had a 
sharp correspondence with Gov. Dinwiddle, occasioned 
by the latter's delay in sending him a chaplain. To 
Gov. Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddle, he repeats 
his complaint of the latter, saying: "The law pro- 
vides for a chaplain to our regiment ; common decency 
demands it. I flatter myself you will appoint a sober, 
serious man for the duty." In the absence of a chap- 
lain he conducted prayers in camp himself, at Fort 
Necessity, at the Great Meadows, and in the Alle- 
ghanies. This is attested by his aid. Col. Temple. 
When Braddock was killed, Washington read the 
burial service by the light of a torch, and writing of 



23 

the battle to liis brother, he said : " By the all-power- 
ful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected 
beyond all probability or expectation ; for I had four 
bullets through my coat and two horses shot under 
me, and yet escaped unhurt." In 1758 the reduction 
of Fort Duquesne terminated the campaign and the 
military career of Washington, who resigned his com- 
mission, and was married at the " White House," 6th 
January, 1759. He now took his seat in the House 
of Burgesses. The speaker (Robinson), by order of 
the house, returned thanks to him for his distinguished 
military services to the colony. Washington rising 
to reply, blushed, trembled, and could not utter a 
word. The speaker relieved his embarrassment by 
saying pleasantly : " Sit down, Mr. Washington. Your 
modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the 
power of any language I can command." While 
Washington was in public life it was easy to feel his 
spiritual pulse ; its beatings were indicated in all the 
public documents he issued. But after his marriage, 
except when the General Assembly was in session, he 
was enjoying otium cum dignitate at Mt. Vernon, until 
the independence bell began to ring. This is just the 
interval during which links are wanting in the chain 
of evidence. But luckily, I have lately found them 
in the old vestry book of Truro, which has been lost 
to public view from time immemorial, and which en- 
ables us to supply the missing links. This precious 
record discloses the fact that, during this interval, he 



24 



and George Mason, and the Fairfaxes, Alexander 
Henderson, and the McCartys, and others, were active 
official Church workers, busily engaged in building 
those historic edifices known as Payne's and Pohick 
churches, in sending their friend and neighbor, Lee 
Massey, to England for orders, and in buying a glebe, 
or fitting up a rectory with all comfortable appurte- 
nances for their pastor. It is pleasing to see how 
punctual he was at the vestry meetings, having been 
fii'st made a vestryman in October, 1762. In 1763, 
with George W. Fairfax as his associate, he was 
church warden. In November, 1764, he was present 
and participating at meetings held for three days in 
succession. On February 3d, 1766, he and G. W. 
Fairfax, Daniel McCarty, and Alexander Henderson 
were chosen as a building committee. On the 4th of 
February, 1766, they signed testimonials commending 
their friend, Lee Massey, to Governor Fauquier for 
orders, and pledging themselves to wait for him until 
he returned from England. On the 23d of February, 
1767, he took part in deliberations about a glebe. On 
2 2d March he prepared a bond for the glebe land. 
On 25th July he exhibited an account of sales of the 
parish tobacco. He was again present on the 20th of 
September and on the 25th of November. On the 
9th of September, 1768, he took part in considering 
proposals from the undertaker for building a church, 
and surveyed the parish to fix upon the most eligible 
site, to settle a difference of opinion in the vestry. 



25 

On the 3d of March and 25th of September, 1769, he 
assisted in making a contract for building Pohick 
Church, and signed the articles of agreement with 
Daniel French, the undertaker. In 1771 he was sug- 
gesting improvements in the finish of the church. In 
1772 George Washington and G. W. Fairfax presented 
to the parish gold-leaf for gilding the ornaments within 
the tabernacle frames, the palm branches and drapery 
in front of the pulpit, and the eggs on the cornice. 
In November, 1772, the vestry requested Colonel 
Washington to import cushions for the pulpit and 
cloth for the desk and communion table of crimson 
velvet and with gold fringe, and two folio Prayer- 
books covered with blue Turkey leather, with the 
name of the parish thereon in gold letters. 

But now men began to scent the smoke of battle 
from afar, and conventions and congresses were the 
order of the day. In 1774 the House of Burgesses, of 
which he was a member, appointed a day of fasting 
and prayer, and we find at that date this entry in his 
private diary : " Went to church and fasted all day." 
In September of the same year he was in Philadelphia, 
a member of the First Congress, and he says in his 
journal of the first three Sundays that he went three 
times to Episcopal churches and once to the Presby- 
terian, Quaker, and Roman Catholic churches, that 
being the first opportunity he had of observing some 
of these modes of worship. On taking command of 
the army in 1775 he issued an order requiring of ''all 



26 

officers aud soldiers punctual attendance on divine 
service, to implore the blessing of Heaven on the 
means used for our safety and defence." In 1776, 
Congress having set apart a day of humiliation, he 
commanded a strict obedience to the order of Con- 
gress that "by unfeigned and pure observance of their 
religious duties they might incline the Lord and giver 
of victory to prosper our arms." He sternly forbade, 
on pain of the lash, gambling, drunkenness, and pro- 
fane swearing — " wicked practices," he said, " hitherto 
but little known in the American army" — and he 
adds: "We can have but little hope of the blessing 
of God if we insult Him by our blasphemies, vices so 
low and without temptation that every man of sense 
and character detests them." 

He describes the bloodless evacuation of Boston 
and the surrender of Burgoyne as signal strokes of 
"that divine providence which has manifestly ap- 
peared in our behalf during our whole struggle." In 
1778, after the battle of Monmouth, he tells his 
mother " all would have been lost but for that boun- 
tiful providence which has never failed us in the hour 
of distress." To General Nelson he says : " The hand 
of Providence has been so conspicuous that he must 
be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more 
than wicked that has not gratitude enough to ac- 
knowledoje his oblio-ations." 

In 1781 he wrote to General Armstrong: "The 
many remarkable interpositions of the divine govern- 



27 

ment in our deepest distress and darkness have been 
too luminous to suffer me to doubt tbe issue of the 
present contest." 

When peace was proclaimed in April, 1783, he 
issued an order from Newburgh commanding the 
chaplains with the army "to render thanks to God 
for His overruling the wrath of man to His own glory 
and causino; the rao;e of war to cease." He calls it a 
'^ morning star heralding in a brighter day than has 
hitherto illumined this Western hemisphere." "Thrice 
happy are they who have done the meanest office in 
creating this stupendous fabric of freedom and empire, 
and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed 
of all nations and religions." On June 18th he issued 
a letter to the Governors of the States, which con- 
cludes with the " earnest prayer that God may have 
you and the States over which you preside in His holy 
protection ; that He would incline the citizens to obe- 
dience to government, to entertain a brotherly love 
for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United 
States in general, and particularly for those who have 
served in the field ; that He would be pleased to dis- 
pose them to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean 
ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific tem- 
per which were the characteristics of the Divine 
Author of our blessed religion, without an humble 
imitation of whose example in these things we can 
never hope to be a happy nation." 

In his Farewell Address to the army, November 2d, 



28 

1783, he gives them, his benediction and invokes for 
them " Heaven's choicest favours both here and here- 
after." In resigning his military commission to Con- 
gress, he says : " In this last act of my official life I 
consider it my indispensable duty to commend the 
interests of our dear country to the protection of Al- 
mighty God and those who have the superintendence 
of them to His holy keeping." 

In his Farewell Address to the people of the United 
States, which the British historian Alison pronounced 
''unequalled by any composition of uninspired wis- 
dom," he said words which have been quoted all 
around the globe : " Of all the dispositions and habits 
which lead to political prosperity, religion and moral- 
ity are indispensable supports. In vain would that 
man claim the tribute of patriotism who shall labor 
to subvert these great pillars of human happiness — 
these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. 
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, 
ought to respect and cherish them. A volume would 
not trace all their connections with private and public 
felicity. Where is the security for property, for repu- 
tation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation 
desert the oaths which are the instruments of investi- 
gation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution 
indulge the supposition that morality can be main- 
tained without religion. Whatever may be conceded 
to the influence of refined education on minds of a 
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid 



29 

US to expect that national morality can prevail in ex- 
clusion of religious principle." 

In a letter to Mr. Smith, of Connecticut, who had 
applauded his services, he replied : " To the Great 
Ruler of Events, and not to any services of mine, I 
ascribe the termination of our contest for liberty. I 
never considered the fortunate issue of any measure 
adopted by me in the progress of the Revolution in 
any other light than as the ordering of Divine Provi- 
dence." 

To these might be added many like confessions of 
faith from his private letters and from nearly every 
public document issued by him from the beginning 
to the close of his career, as soldier and statesman ; 
there is nothing like it in the history of Christendom. 

Now let us look for a moment at the impressions 
made by his daily life on those who were nearest to 
him, in his home, in his parish, in the field, and in the 
councils of the country. I hold in my hand a cata- 
logue of nearly two hundred funeral sermons and ora- 
tions, etc., delivered on the occasion of his death. 
Many of them I have read, and from them a volume 
of testimonials could be collected illustrating his 
Christian creed and character. A few citations from 
this cloud of witnesses must suffice. 

General Harry Lee said : " First in war, first in 
peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen — sincere, 
humane, pious. The finger of an overruling Provi- 
dence, pointing at Washington as the man designed 



30 

by Heaven to lead us in war and in peace, was not 
mistaken. He laid the foundations of our policy in 
the unerring principles of morality based on religion." 
Major Jackson, his aid, speaks of the radiance of 
religion shining in his character and of his being be- 
loved by the ministers of religion. The Honorable 
Mr. Sewall, of New Hampshire, said : " To crown all 
his virtues, he had the deepest sense of religion. He 
was a constant attendant on public worship and a 
communicant at the Lord's table. I shall never forget 
the impression made by seeing this leader of our hosts 
bending in this house of prayer in humble adoration 
of the God of Armies and the author of our salva- 
tion." The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, of Boston, said : " He 
was known to be habitually devout." His pastor, 
Rev. Lee Massey, trusted and beloved by George 
Mason and George Washington, testifies : " He was 
the most punctual attendant at church I have ever 
known. No company ever prevented his coming, and 
his behaviour was so reverential as to greatly aid me 
in my labors." Bishop Meade, who was intimate at 
Mt. Vernon and with Mr. Massey's family, says they 
affirmed that " Washington was a communicant." We 
have seen that he chose a pew next to the communion 
table ; and Miss Custis, a member of the family, at- 
tests that " her grandmother, Mrs. Washington, told 
her often that General Washington always communed 
with her before the Revolution." G. W. P. Custis, 
Washington's ward and a member of the family, says, 



I 



31 

in his printed reminiscences : " Washington was a 
strict and decorous observer of the Sabbath. He al- 
ways attended divine service in the morning, and 
read a sermon or some portion of the Bible to Mrs. 
Washington in the afternoon. On Sunday," Mr. Cus- 
tis says, "there were no visitors to the President's 
house except relations, and Mr. Speaker Trumbull* 
in the evening; so that if the bell rang the porter 
knew it to be the ' Speaker's bell,' as it was called." 
To this statement of Mr. Custis, his editor, Lossing, 
thoroughly versed in the family history, appends this 
note : " Washino-ton was a member in full communion 
with the Protestant Episcopal Church." The doubt 
which has been expressed by some persons on this point 
has arisen, I think, from the conceded fact that he did 
not always commune, as attested by Bishop White, 
while Congress sat in Philadelphia, and by Miss Cus- 
tis as to Alexandria, after services ceased at Pohick 
Church. In explanation of this fact I would suggest 
that it was the custom of the Colonial Church only to 
administer the communion at Christmas, Easter, and 
Whitsuntide, and the people fell into the habit of 
limiting their communion to these occasions. The 
canons of the English Church only required the com- 
munion to be administered three times a year. This 
is made probable by the express declaration of Gen- 
eral Porterfield to General Samuel Lewis, both of 
whom were known by many persons now living to 

* Mr. Trumbull was a devout Christian. 



32 

have been men of spotless truth : " General Washing- 
ton was a pious man, a member of the Episcopal 
Church. I saw him myself on his knees receive the 
Lord's Supper at Philadelphia." Porterfield, being 
brigade inspector, often waited on Washington in the 
army, and going once without warning to Washing- 
ton's headquarters, he says : " I found him on his 
knees at his morning devotions." He added : "I was 
often in Washington's company under very exciting 
circumstances and never heard him swear or profane 
the name of God in any way." 

And now as to his habits in New York. Major 
Popham, a Revolutionary officer much with Washing- 
ton, and whose high character is attested by Bishop 
Meade and Dr. Berrien, of Trinity Church, New York, 
in a letter to Mrs. John A. Washington, of Mt. Ver- 
non, affirms that he attended the same church with 
Washington during his Presidency. "I sat in Judge 
Morris' pew, and I am as confident as a memory now 
laboring under the pressure of 87 years will serve, 
that the President often communed, and I had the 
privilege of kneeling with him. My elder daughter 
distinctly remembers hearing her grandmamma, Mrs. 
Morris, mention the fact with pleasure." 

Dr. Berrien says Major Popham was erect and but 
little broken in his age, and his mind and memory un- 
impaired. 

Dr. Chapman deposes that a lady whose w^ord could 
not be questioned, assured him that soon after the 



33 

close of the Revolution slie saw him partake of the 
symbols of the body and blood of Christ, in Trinity 
Church, New York. 

He is known, as a general rule, to have spent an 
hour every morning and evening in reading the Bible 
and in private meditation and prayer. His prayers, 
often audible, were overheard by members of the fam- 
ily, and his aids. Col. Temple, and Gen. Knox, and 
Gen. Porterfield, and his nephew and private secre- 
tary, Robert Lewis, attest his habits in this particular 
— unquestionable evidence of the firmness of his faith 
and the reality of his communion with God. 

Of those who have most thoroughly studied Wash- 
ington's history, having access to the family papers 
and leaving no source of intelligence unexplored, are 
Bancroft, Sparks, Irving, Lossing, Marshall, Bishop 
Meade, Dr. McGuire, and Winthrop ; and we will let 
them sum up the conclusions they have reached. 

Bancroft says : " Washington was from his heart 
truly and deeply religious. His convictions became 
more intense from the influence of the great events of 
his life upon his character. We know from himself 
that he could not but feel that he had been sustained 
by the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human 
things. He was a member of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, and belonged decidedly to the party of 
moderation." 

Sparks says: "He was Christian in faith and prac- 
tice, and he was habitually devout. He was chari- 



34 

table and humane ; liberal to tbe poor, kind to those 
in distress. His reverence for religion was seen in his 
example, in his public communications, and in his 
private writings." 

Chief Justice Marshall, his fellow-soldier and his 
biographer, says: "He was a sincere believer in the 
Christian faith, and a truly devout man." 

Lossing says : " He was a member in full commun- 
ion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a vestry- 
man of Truro and Fairfax Parishes." 

Irvino- says : " Washington attended church every 
Sunday, when the weather and roads permitted. His 
demeanor was reverential and devout. He and his 
wife were both communicants." 

And R. C. Winthrop, who was orator at the laying 
of the corner-stone of the Monument, and also at its 
dedication, says : '' True to his friends, true to his 
country, and to himself; fearing God, believing in 
Christ, no stranger to private devotion, or to the 
holiest offices of the Church to which he belonged ; 
but ever gratefully acknowledging a divine aid and 
direction in everything he attempted, and in every- 
thing he accomplished. What epithet, what attribute, 
could be added to that consummate character to com- 
mend it as an example above all other characters in 
human history?" 

Lavater, who had made a profound study of physi- 
ognomy, says : " A man's looks, words and actions are 
the alphabet which spells character." We have heard 



35 

Washington's words, and seen his actions by the light 
of history. His person was as majestic as his charac- 
ter. He was six feet two inches high in his prime, 
and strength and grace were blended in his figure. 
Stuart, who painted his portrait so often, says there 
were features in his face totally different from any he 
had ever seen. Hiram Powers, the American sculptor, 
told me in his studio in Florence that he had com- 
pared the head of Washington with all the antique 
busts in the galleries, and it surpassed them all. 
Moustier, the French minister, describing him at his 
inauguration, said : " Nature, which had given him 
the talent to govern, distinguished him from all other 
men by his appearance. He had the look and the 
figure of a hero." The wife of Mr. Adams, speaking 
of him as he appeared to a woman's eye on the same 
occasion, said: "He looks a temple made by hands 
divine." 

Washington was a Mason, and if we apply to his 
character in a moral sense, the rules applied by that 
order to his monument, we shall find it square, level 
and plumb. Its distinguishing features were a sense 
of duty and self-control. His passions were by nature 
strong, and yet, in general, he had complete mastery 
of them. He ruled his own spirit as men harness 
electricity and steam, and make them do their work. 
He struck the golden mean between extremes. He 
was a Virginian, but not a sectionalist. He was an 
American, and yet, like Socrates, a citizen of the 



36 

world. He was an Episcopalian, and yet, to use his 
own words, he always " strove to prove a faithful and 
impartial patron of genuine vital religion" wherever 
found ; and he so demeaned himself that all Christians 
honored and revered him. The Presbyterians, Luther- 
ans, Episcopalians, and Methodists sent him addresses 
of confidence and admiration, and the Baptist Uni- 
versity at Providence, Rhode Island, conferred upon 
him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Bishops Coke 
and Asbury (Methodist) visited him at Mt. Vernon, 
1785, and Dr. Coke records in his diary: "He is a 
plain country gentleman, polite and easy of access, 
and a friend of mankind. I was loath to leave him, 
for 1 greatly love and esteem him, and if there was no 
pride in it I would say, we are surely kindred spirits, 
formed in the same mould." Socially he was intimate 
with P. E. Bishop AVhite, and the R. C. Bishop Car- 
roll, and his pastors, Drs. Griffith and Massey, and the 
Rev. Bryan Fairfax. He seems to have lived in a 
serene atmosphere above the clouds of sectarian jeal- 
ousy, sectional hate, and national pride, which so ob- 
scure our vision, and hide from us the boundless land- 
scape of truth. 

In considering Christian character it is not fair to 
make the prevailing type of religion in one generation 
a Procrustean bed, to which men of past generations 
must be fitted, before thev are recos^nized as Chris- 
tians. Time and place weigh heavily upon all men. 
To be born in a particular degree of latitude is to be 



37 

an American or a Chinaman. To be born in a par- 
ticular epoch is to have the dominant opinions and 
manners of that epoch. If Washington had been 
born in Paris, or Napoleon in America, the outcome of 
each might have been very different from their history 
as it is written. So the type of religion varies with 
time and place. Between St. Augustine at one end of 
the scale and John Bunyan at the other, there are 
many degrees, and all within the limits of saving 
faith. The inward spiritual grace w^as the same, but 
the outward expression of it in the life varied with 
time and circumstance. In Washington's mature life 
the favorite divines were Barrow, Seeker, Sherlock, 
Tillotson, and Blair. These authors had place in the 
libraries of clergymen of the latter part of the last 
century. These authors made the fruits of Christian- 
ity more prominent than its root, and yet the root of 
the matter was in them all. 

Here again, I think, our Hero struck the golden 
mean. For in commending to his countrymen moral- 
ity he warned them against the error of supposing 
that morality could live long unless it was rooted in 
religious principle. He was not a metaphysician, but 
a man of action all his life. So he added to his faith 
virtue, knowledge, temperance, godliness, brotherly 
kindness, charity. His first wish, he said, " is to see 
the whole world at peace, and its inhabitants one 
band of brothers, striving who should contribute most 
to the happiness of mankind." 



38 

When commanding a company at Alexandria in his 
youth, a warm contest took place for the Assembly 
between a Mr. Ellzey and G. W. Fairfax. Washing- 
ton, the friend of Fairfax, said something offensive to 
Mr. Payne, an ancestor of our African Bishop. Payne 
resented it by knocking Capt. Washington down with 
his cane. The latter, next morning, sent a letter to 
Payne, which, instead of being a challenge, as was an- 
ticipated, was a magnanimous acknowledgment that 
he was in the wrong, and they were ever after fast 
friends. Later in life he forbade La Fayette's chal- 
lenging a British officer to fight a duel, and by pleas- 
ant raillery laughed him out of the notion. 

During the Revolution, he directed one of his 
agents (Peake) to keep one corn-house for the use of 
the poor, and instructed his steward (Lund Washing- 
ton) never to allow the poor to go from his house 
hungry, and directed him to spend $250 of his money 
jyer annum in charity. He gave the use of several 
farms to the homeless ; established a charity school at 
Alexandria; gave $10,000 to what is now Washing- 
ton and Lee University ; educated young men at col- 
lege ; made provisions for orphans, and for aged and 
infirm servants. 

Let no one suppose that I am trying to j^aint a per- 
fect portrait. Humammi est errare. The sun has its 
spots. And those whose taste leads them to look at 
these through magnifying glasses, must allow us the 
liberty of rather rejoicing in the light and warmth 



39 

and bliss in which he bathes all nature. There is but 
one spotless page in history ; it is that which records 
the life and death of the spotless Lamb of God. 

Neither let it be suspected that we deem the au- 
thority of Washington needed to buttress Christianity. 
As well might it be said that the satellites which the 
sun attracts around him, and which reflect his light, 
uphold that great luminary. The sun is self-poised, 
and shines by his own light, and so does Christianity. 
They both uphold their satellites instead of being sup- 
ported by them. If Washington, and Henry, and 
Marshall, and Mason, and the Lees and Randolphs, 
and George Nicholas and Archy Cary, and Pendleton 
and Nelson, and Page and other stars in the Colonial 
Church constellation, bring the laurels they reaped in 
the fields of their fame and lay them as humble offer- 
ings upon the altar of Christ, we gratefully accept the 
offerings, but give the glory where it is due. 

I sometimes think that the " myriad-minded " Shake- 
speare was not only a seer of the present, but a fore- 
seer of the future ; that his imagination bodied forth 
the forms of things unknown, which Time in its re- 
volving turns to shapes, and gives a local habitation 
and a name. Thus when he enunciates the " king- 
becoming graces," 

Justice, Verity, Temperance, Stability, 
Purity, Perseverance, Mercy, Humility, 
Devotion, Patience, Courage, Fortitude, 

it seems to me like a presentiment and a prophecy of 



40 

our "king of men " by universal suffrage. For to pos- 
sess these qualities is to be a king, whether called so 
or not ; and if Washington had sat for the portrait, it 
could not have been more true to the life. 

Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, has been 
called the Monarch of Mountains, " crowned long ago 
with a diadem of snow." It seems to me to be a fit- 
ting symbol of the man, who, by common consent, has 
been crowned "king of men." What could be purer 
than a crown of driven snow, " fanned and bolted o'er 
and o'er," by all the winds of heaven ? Under the 
microscope, each particle of snow is a six-rayed star, 
and when the sunlight falls from heaven upon them, 
each star shines, and all of them together glow with a 
radiance which surpasses infinitely the lustre of all the 
jewels which glitter on all the crowned heads on earth. 
No one who has ever seen the sun rise or set on the 
Alps, will ever forget the beauty and the glory of that 
splendid transfiguration. Thus are the character and 
career of Washington "diademed with rays divine." 

And so I conclude with Tennyson's imitation of the 
motto on the crest of the Washingtons — Virtus sola 
nobilitas. 

Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 

'Tis only noble to be good ; 

Kind hearts are more than coronets. 

And simple faith, than Norman blood. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



In the treatment of this subject I have tried to be fair, and not 
dogmatic, especially on contested points; I have preferred to rely 
upon the authority of names that have more weight than mine; 
I have omitted many traditions, even those which are believed 
by many, to prove Washington's communion at Morristown, and 
upon several other occasions during the Revolution, While I re- 
gard it as proved that he was a communicant before and during 
the Revolution, I attach due weight to the negative testimony 
of White and Abercrombie as to his habit in Philadelphia while 
President, and to that of Miss Custis as to his custom in Alex- 
andria after services closed at Pohick. As to his practice in 
New York, the testimony of Major Popham and Dr. Chapman 
cannot be lightly passed over. 

As to the traditions of his habit of swearing when excited, I 
have sought diligently for any positive proof of it. As to the 
occasion of St. Clair's defeat, Lear, who had no sympathy with 
Washington's religious creed, only says he exclaimed twice 
" Good God ! " As to the occasion of Lee^s retreat, I am author- 
ized by Bancroft, the historian, to say that the question has been 
thoroughly sifted, and no ground for the tradition is left. But 
even if such allegations under such circumstances were proved, 
they would not disprove his general Christian character, as wit- 
ness the case of St. Peter, who denied with an oath that he 
knew his Saviour, and after the storm of temptation had passed, 
''went out and wept bitterly." 

Those who would know more of the "Maternal Ancestry of 

Washington," are referred to the interesting monograph under 

this title, entered in the office of the Librarian of Congress 

(1885) by N. R. Ball, Esq. 

41 



42 

An extract from a letter of Washington's imcle to his mother, 
reinforcing her opposition to her son''s going to sea. 

Josej^h Ball, an uncle of Washington, was a lawyer in London. 
On the 19th of May, 1747, he wrote to his sister a letter, of 
which the following is an extract : 

" I understand that you have been advised and are thinking 
of sending your son George to sea. . . . As to any consider- 
able preferment in the Navy it is not to be expected, as there 
are so many gaping for it here, who have interest, and he has 
none. ... A planter who has three or four hundred acres 
of land and three or four slaves, if he be industrious, may live 
more comfortably, and leave his family in better bread. . . . 
He must not be too hasty to be rich, but go on gently and with 
patience. This method, without aiming at being a fine gentle- 
man before his time, will carry a man more comfortably and 
surely through the world, unless it be a great chance indeed. 
" I pray God keep you and yours. 

" Your loving brother, 

" Joseph Ball. 

" Stratford-by-Bow; nigh London." 

Eight years after the date of the foregoing, the same Joseph 
Ball wrote the following letter to his nephew : 

Stratford, Sept. 5th, 1755. 
Good Cousin: 

It is a sensible pleasure to me to hear that you have behaved 
yourself with such a martial spirit in all your engagements with 
the French nigh Ohio. Go on as you have begun, and God 
prosper you. We have heard of General Braddock's defeat; 
everybody blames bis rash conduct; everyone commends the 
courage of the Virginians and Carolina men, which is very 
agreeable to me. T desire you, as you may have opportunity, 
to give me a short account of how you proceed. I am your 



43 

mother's brother. I hope you will not deny my request. 1 
heartily wish you good success, and am — 

Your loving uncle, 

Joseph Ball. 
To Major George Washington, 

At the Falls of the Rappahannock or elsewhere in Virginia. 



POHICK CHURCH. 
Truko Parish, Fairfax County, Virginia. 

Pohick, a brick church on the creek, after which it was 
named, succeeded the old church of wood which was on the 
opposite side of the creek. All the details of choosing the site, 
of the contract for building it, the materials of which it was 
made, its furniture, the sale of the pews, the names of the pur- 
chasers, etc., are given in full in the Vestry Book, so long lost, 
and which I have been so fortunate as to find. I have written 
the history of the Parish upon the basis of this authentic docu- 
ment, which will be published if the demand should warrant 
the expense. 

The Vestry who chose the site of the present Pohick Church, 
and who signed the contract with Daniel French for building it, 
were — 

Daniel McCarty (Ch. Warden). George Mason. 

Edward Payne. John Posey. 

George Washington. Wm. Gardner. 

G. War. Fairfax. Thomazin Ellzey. 

The Building Committee who superintended it, were G. W. 
Fairfax, G. Washington, George Mason, Capt. Daniel McCarty, 
and Edward Payne. 

On 20th Nov., 1772, twelve pews were sold at auction. George 
Mason bought Nos. 3 and 4, next to the south wall, for £14 lis. 
6d. each. No. 5, on south wall, near front door, to Thos. 
Withers Coffer, for £14 13s. No. 13, north wall, Martin Cock- 



44 

burn, £15 10s. No. 14, north wall, next above rector's pew, 
Daniel McCarty, £15 10s. No. 21, centre pew on south aisle, 
next to communion table, G. W. Fairfax, £16. Nos. 22 and 
23, centre pews, south aisle, Alexander Henderson, £13 10s. each. 
No. 28, centre pew on north aisle, next to the communiontable, 
George Washington, £16. No. 29, Lund Washington, after- 
wards bought from him by George Washington, £13 10s. No. 
31, Harrison Manley, £15. No. 15, north wall, next above pul- 
pit, was vested in the Eector of the Parish and his successors 
forever. The two corner pews between two west doors, being 
where the font ought to be, were ordered to be taken down. It 
was agreed to pay Wm. Capon £6 for making a stone font, 
according to 150th plate in Langley's Designs. On inquiring 
for that font, we learned that there was a stone vessel in the 
vicinity supposed to be it, and now used for watering horses. It 
is a coarse structure. I bought it from its owner, and it will be 
preserved in the church as a relic of the olden times. 

Jared Sparks in " Writings of Washington," Vol. XIL, page 
404, says: 

I shall here insert a letter written to me by a lady who lived 
twenty years ago in Washington's family and who was his 
adopted daughter and the grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington. 
The writer of this latter married Lawrence Lewis, the nephew 
of Washington. It is dated Woodlawn, Feb. 26th, 1833. It is 
too long for reproduction in these notes. I give some extracts 
from it, viz.: "My mother resided two years at Mt. Vernon 
after her marriage. I have heard her say that General Wash- 
ington always received the Sacrament with my grandmother be- 
fore the Revolution. When my aunt. Miss Custis, died suddenly 
at Mt. Vernon, he, Washington, before they could realize the 
event, knelt by her and prayed most fervently for her recovery, 
and of this I was assured by Judge Washington's mother and 
other witnesses. She testifies to his extraordinary punctuality 
in attending Church and his reverent behaviour there, to his 



45 

habit of spending some hours alone every morning and evening, 
and to his not receiving visitors on Sundays. She would have 
deemed it heresy to doubt his Christianity and his life and writ- 
ings proved it. My grandmother never doubted it. She re- 
signed him into the arms of his Saviour with the assured hope 
of his eternal felicity." 

Mr. Sparks relates a conversation he had at Fredericksburg in 
1827, with Robert Lewis, nephew and private secretary of Wash- 
ington, who had every opportunity of observing his habits. 
Mr. Lewis said he had witnessed his private devotions both 
morning and evening in his library — that he had seen him 
kneeling with the Bible open before him, and he believed this 
to be his daily practice. Once more, Mr. Sparks believed 
without any doubt in the fact of Washington's communion with 
the Presbyterians while the army was encamped at Morristown, 
New Jersey, and he says an incident related in Dr. Hosack's 
" Life of De Witt Clinton," establishes the fact. The gist of 
the narrative is that Washington called upon the Rev. Dr. 
Jones saying that he had heard that the communion was to be 
administered by him on Sunday and asked if there was any 
canon of the Presbyterian Church prohibiting the communion 
to other Churches. To which Dr. Jones replied, " Certainly not. 
It was the Lord's table and all His children were welcome." 
Accordingly he communed with them. Independently of the 
other proofs this narrative bears internal marks of its truth in 
the terms used. 

Washington is represented as saying Sunday when Presby- 
terians call it Sabbath; Washington says canons, a word not ap- 
plied by Presbyterians to their rules. These words would 
not be used by a Presbyterian stating the substance of the in- 
terview. The narrative professes to give the very words of the 
interview and it was communicated to Mr. Sparks by the Rev. 
Dr. Samuel Cox, who derived it through a mutual friend from 
Dr. Jones himself. Sparks after these and other facts, sums up 



46 

the whole case, thus: " I must end as I begun, that I conceive 
every attempt at argument in so plain a case would be misapplied. 
If a man who spoke and wrote and acted as a Christian through 
so long a life, who gave so many proofs of believing himself 
such, and said and wrote and did nothing to the contrary is not 
to be ranked as a believer in Christianity it would be impossible 
to establish the point by any train of reasoning." 

PROFANE SWEARING. 

If the evidence already adduced does not convince anyone of 
the falsehood of this charge, the testimony of his nephews, 
Lawrence and Robert Lewis should be conclusive. Both of 
them were his intimate associates and both concurred in afiBrm- 
ing to Bishop Meade that they never heard him swear in their 
lives. 

LOTTERIES. 

It has been urged against Washington's Christian character 
that he had something to do with lotteries. This allegation has 
been made in the face of the fact that from the first parliamen- 
tary lottery in England, 1586, to the first quarter of the present 
century, many of the best men in the Church in England and 
America had something to do wich lotteries. Congress instituted 
a national lottery in 1776, and many of the States followed the 
example. Nothing was more common than lotteries in aid of 
public works, charities and churches. In Virginia lotteries were 
authorized in aid of the Episcopal churches in Norfolk, Peters- 
burg and elsewhere; of Presbyterian churches in Shepherdstown 
and Alexandria; of the Lutheran church at Winchester. These 
are a few of many instances. The truth is there has been a 
perfect revolution of public opinion on the subject, under the 
influence of a progressive Christian consciousness. 



This extract from the Farnily Bible of Col. Fielding Lewis, 
who married, 1st, Catharine, and 2nd, Bettie Washington, 
shows divers historic persons acting as Sponsors in Baptism, and 



47 

among them George Washington and his mother and his wife 
and brothers, etc. 

Fielding Lewis m 1746, Catharine Washington (cousin of 
Gen. Washington), Issue: 

I.— John, h June 22, 1747, his uncle, John Lewis and 
Charles Dick, Godfathers; Mrs. Mary Washington 
and Mrs. Lee, Godmothers. 
IL— Frances, h November 25, 1748, Fielding Lewis and 
George Washington, Godfathers; Miss Hannah 
Washington and Mrs. Jackson, Godmothers. 
III._Warner, h November 29, 1749, his uncle, Mr. Lewis 
and Capt. B. Seaton, Godfathers ; Mrs. Mildred 
Seaton, Godmother. He d infant. 
Mrs. Catharine Lewis d February, 1749-50, and Fielding 
Lewis m 2d, Betty, only sister of George Washington. Issue: 
I.— Fielding, h February 14, 1751, his Uncle, Geo. Wash- 
ington and Kobt. Jackson, Godfathers; and Mrs. 
Mary Washington and Mrs. Frances Thornton, God- 
mothers. 
IL— Augustin, i Jan. 22, 1752, his uncle, Chas. Lewis and 
Chas. Washington, Godfathers; his aunt, Lucy 
Lewis and Mrs. Mary Taliaferro, Godmothers. 
HI. —Warner, 5 June 24, 1755, his uncle, Chas. Washington 
and Col. John Thornton, Godfathers; Mrs. Mildred 
Thornton and Mrs. Mary Willis, Godmothers. 
IV._George, h March 14, 1757, Charles Yates and Lewis 
Willis, Godfathers; Mrs. Mary Dick and his mother, 
Godmothers, 
v.— Mary, h April 22, 1759, Samuel and Lewis Washing- 
ton, Godfathers; Mrs. Washington and Miss Mary 
Thornton, Godmothers. 
VL— Charles, h October 3, 1760, Col. George Washington 
and Roger Dixon, Godfathers; Mrs. Martha Wash- 
ington and Mrs. Lucy Dixon, Godmothers. 



48 

VII. — Samuel, h May 14, 1763, Eev. Musgrave Dawson and 

Joseph Jones, Godfathers; Mrs. Dawson and Mrs. 

Jones, Godmothers. 
VIIL— Bettie, i February 23, 1765, Eev. Mr. Kice and 

Warner Washington, Godfathers; Mrs. Harriet 

Washington and Miss Frances Lewis, Godmothers. 
IX. — Lawrence, b April 4, 1767, Chas. Washington and 

Francis Thornton, Godfathers; Mrs. Mary Dick, 

Godmother. 
X. — Robert, h June 25, 1769, George Thornton and Peter 

Marye, Godfathers; Miss Mildred Willis and Mrs. 

Ann Lewis, Godmothers. 
XI. — Howell, h December 12, 1771, Joseph Jones and James 

Mercer, Godfathers; Miss Mary and Miss Milly Dick, 

Godmothers. 




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